Pagliano has appeared in front of Congress before and decided to plead the Fifth Amendment, which his lawyers claimed he would do again should he be questioned at another committee hearing.

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The oversight committee has been working to get all the information its needs to investigate Clinton’s use of private servers to conduct government business while she was head of the State Department. They have encountered quite a few roadblocks, including witness obfuscation.

Now the rest of the House will need to vote on the contempt resolution passed by the committee, but time is not on their side. The House will break for a recess on Oct. 1 and will not reconvene until after the November election.

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Florida Republican Rep. John Mica stressed the importance of cooperation:

“We cannot make this government work — we cannot function — if people will not adhere to the Constitution, the rules and the basic ability of the Congress to talk to these people.”

He added, “This is an issue that goes to the very core of our democratic and constitutional process.”

South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy noted that the immunity agreement the DOJ struck with Pagliano, and his subsequent refusal to answer congressional inquiry, pointed to there being something about the Clinton investigation that he does not want to reveal.

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“So you wouldn’t want people to say the same thing to Congress that they would to the FBI,” Gowdy said.

Chaffetz has stressed the importance of transparency and Congress’ ability to get the answers it needs from the FBI. The chairman said he remained optimistic: “I think Congress will be able to see what it should have been able to see all along the way.”